1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an apparatus and method for an orthopedic bandage. More particularly, the invention is directed for use in fiberglass bandages used in making casts and splints when repairing broken bones. The invention has utility and application in areas using resin impregnated substrates and the like.
2. Prior Art
The making of orthopedic bandages is well known. Orthopedic bandage systems are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,667,661, issued to Scholz et al. on May 26, 1987; U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,937, issued to Scholz et al. on Oct. 4, 1988; U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,502, issued to Ersfeld et al. on Aug. 15, 1989; U.S. Pat. No. 4,898,159, issued to Buese et al on Feb. 6, 1990; U.S. Pat. No. 5,061,555, issued to Edenbaum et al. on Oct. 29, 1991; U.S. Pat. No. 5,250,344, issued to Williamson et al. on Oct. 5, 1993; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,476,440, issued to Edenbaum on Dec. 19, 1995. Each of these patents will be briefly outlined in the following discussion and is hereby incorporated by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,667,661, issued to Scholz et al. on May 26, 1987, discloses a curable resin coated sheet having reduced tack. This invention discloses a sheet material, such as that used for an orthopedic bandage, impregnated with a curable resin and provided with a lubricant at a major surface of the coated sheet. Thus, a layer of lubricating composition is placed in a continuous layer along a major surface of a sheet, or is mixed as an additive to a curable resin and the lubricant resin composition is continuously placed along the major surfaces of a sheet. Similar claims and description of the prior art can be found in the continuation of this patent which resulted in U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,937, issued to Scholz et al. on Oct. 4, 1988 entitled "Curable Resin Coated Sheet Having Reduced Tack". A further description and continuation of the series of patents may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,502, issued to Ersfeld et al. on Aug. 15, 1989, entitled "Curable Resin Sheets Having Reduced Tack".
U.S. Pat. No. 4,898,159, issued to Buese et al on Feb. 6, 1990 is directed towards the separate art of bindings for bandages and describes ravel-free orthopaedic casting tapes. The description of this invention includes a method of treating substrates to prevent the unraveling and problems associated with untreated fiberglass casting tapes. This invention describes coating the casting tape with a soft, low modulous binder to prevent the casting tape from unraveling when cut. The description includes both continuously coating the entire length of the substrate and applying the binder only at spaced zones where the tape is to be cut.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,061,555, issued to Edenbaum et al. on Oct. 29, 1991, discloses a water-activated orthopedic cast composition having colorant. This patent describes the use of a hydrophilic bisurethane as a detackifying additive. This patent describes adding the detackifier prior to reaction with water, during reaction with water, or after the reaction while the cast is still wet. Specifically, this patent addresses using a drum roller or paddle mixer to obtain an even distribution of the detackifying material throughout the prepolymer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,250,344, issued to Williamson et al. on Oct. 5, 1993, discloses a cast material with encapsulated lubricant. This invention describes an orthopedic cast which uses a resin material embedded into a planar substrate which has been coated by an encapsulated lubricous material. The encapsulated lubricous material has been encapsulated into a plurality of microgranuals wherein the microgranuals are deposited only onto one end portion of the tape, such that the microgranual encapsulated lubricant is only on the innermost end of a roll of cast forming tape.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,476,440, issued to Edenbaum on Dec. 19, 1995, discloses an orthopedic bandage with lubricous core. This patent teaches the bandage with a core containing lubricant material which renders the surface portion of the bandage substantially non-tacky to facilitate the forming of a cast. The cores are designed to have a liquid-permeable base which releases lubricating liquid upon application of a force to the core. In this manner the lubricant will be dispensed onto the appliers gloves to allow for the forming of the cast.
European Patent Application No. 0295031 describes surfactants that can be incorporated throughout the resin by dissolution into the resin prior to spreading the resin onto the substrate. This European patent application and the associated disclosures is hereby incorporated by reference.
The above described bandages suffer from the drawbacks of wasting material by coating the entire bandage with lubricant, only coating the inner end of the bandage with lubricant, failing to combine binding agents and lubricants, and using expensive methods such as microencapsulation to distribute the lubricant for its use. Furthermore, the systems disclosed in the patents do not appear to allow the technician to adjust the amount of lubrication both during and after the cast application.
Hence, there is a need for an eloquently simple orthopedic bandage with a combined end binding agent and lubrication system.